Avenir Telecom partners Energizer

Avenir Telecom has announced a strategic partnership with
Energizer, the world's largest battery manufacturer.

The companies have partnered to design, produce and distribute a
range of mobile device chargers, which will be available from
June.

Stuart Balaam, sales director - accessories at Avenir, told
Mobile: 'Partnering with Energizer is part of our strategy to
create a unique space for ourselves in the market. But with
Energizer, it's not a case of just sticking a label on someone
else's product. It's a genuine partnership with research and
development from both sides.'

He added: 'Before, we felt we were duplicating what firms like
20:20 Mobile and Kondor were doing. So we've set out to establish
exclusive deals with a number of brands: some are sector
exclusives, others are UK exclusives. It is a separate revenue
stream for Avenir, which might grow to account for 20% of the
business by 2011.'

Balaam said: 'We are currently in negotiations with retailers and
are looking at all channels to distribute the Energizer
chargers.' He would not reveal prices, but said: 'They won't
necessarily be premium, but pricing will be relatively
aggressive; certainly lower than OEM products.'

Avenir and Energizer are offering a range of multi-connect
chargers, some of which have a car, travel and USB charger on the
same device. At the moment, people would need 44 different
products to cover all brands of car and travel chargers. This has
been cut to six or seven chargers covering joint BlackBerry/HTC
chargers, Motorola, the iPhone 3G, Samsung, LG, Nokia and Sagem.

Solutions are also being produced for gaming products, GPS
devices, laptops and netbooks. A multi-connect charger will be
available to suit all netbooks with the ability to self-regulate
for the voltages required.